INDIANAPOLIS – Five things to know about the Indianapolis Colts’ 2017 schedule, released Thursday night, including three primetime games and a Week 11 bye (see below for full schedule):

1) Week 1 stumbles

Just once in the Chuck Pagano era have the Colts come away with a win on the first Sunday of the season; all told, they’re 1-5 in Week 1 games since 2012. In each of the past three seasons, the Colts dropped the first two games, and only in 2014 did they overcome the rocky start to make the playoffs. A pair of losses to start the year doesn’t bury a season, but it certainly doesn’t help. Owner Jim Irsay has stressed time and again the importance of getting off to a good start. Under Pagano, the Colts have rarely done it.

Nothing like getting a team that was 4-12 a year ago to fix that.

The Colts will open the season in sunny Los Angeles. They'll take on the Rams on Sept. 10 at 4:05 p.m.

Indy's home opener arrives in Week 2 when the Colts face off against the Cardinals at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Robert Griffin III, the second overall pick behind Andrew Luck in 2012, could face the Colts this season if he's the Browns' starter.(Photo: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports)

No team in football will face an easier schedule in 2017 than the Colts, based on win-loss records from last season. Indy will see just four games against playoff teams, and they’ll play four games against three of the worst teams from a year ago – three-win Jacksonville, one-win Cleveland and two-win San Francisco. The Colts will also travel to Los Angeles to take on the four-win Rams in Week 1.

There’s also the gift that keeps on giving – the AFC South. Two-time defending champ Houston is unsettled at the quarterback spot, perhaps leaning toward starting veteran backup Tom Savage or a rookie they pluck in next week’s draft. The Titans, fresh off their first winning season in five years, are on the rise. The Jaguars haven’t won more than five games in a season in six years. It remains among the most winnable divisions in football.

All told, the Colts’ opponent’s winning percentage from last year is .424, worst in the NFL. AFC South friends Tennessee and Jacksonville are next at .440. The toughest schedule on paper? Belongs to the Denver Broncos.

The Colts will face the entire NFC West in their first five games: at L.A. in Week 1, vs. Arizona in Week 2, at Seattle in Week 4 and vs. San Francisco in Week 5.

Also, after playing on three holidays last fall (Thanksgiving night, Christmas Eve and New Year's Day) the Colts won't play on any this year.

3) Big bad Pittsburgh comes to town

Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers have pounded the Colts by a combined margin of 124-51 in the teams' last three meetings.(Photo: Mykal_McEldowney/Indy_Star)

Maybe this is the year the Colts shake their Steelers blues. Maybe not. The past three meetings, one in each of the last three seasons, have been bloodbaths – Pittsburgh’s offense did whatever it wanted, however it wanted, and the Colts had no semblance of an answer.

It got downright ugly.

Andrew Luck was on the wrong side of it in 2014; you remember Ben Roethlisberger throwing for 522 yards that day – a Steelers record – in a 51-34 rout. Matt Hasselbeck was on the wrong side of it in 2015; Roethlisberger did much of the same in a 45-10 spanking. Gritty as his performance was that night, Scott Tolzien couldn’t keep last year’s game close at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Steelers pounded the Colts 28-10 on Thanksgiving night.

All told, the Colts have lost four straight to Pittsburgh dating back to 2011, their longest streak against any team not named the Patriots. (New England has won a whopping seven straight over the Colts; the last time Indy beat their rivals was the famous fourth-and-2 game in 2009).

If the Colts see the Patriots this season, it’ll have to come in the playoffs. They’ll host Pittsburgh on Nov. 12, their last game before their Week 11 bye.

Bruce Arians went 9-3 as Colts interim coach in 2012 and was named NFL Coach of the Year.(Photo: Matt Kryger / The Star)

The man who stepped in and guided the Colts through the tumult of 2012 – Pagano’s leukemia diagnosis – returns to Indianapolis in Week 2 for the first time as coach of the Arizona Cardinals.

Bruce Arians was the steadying hand that oversaw the Colts’ stunning return to the playoffs that year. A 2-14 team in 2011 – gutted of its franchise stalwarts and infused with young but inexperienced talent – became the story of the NFL season. Pagano, surprised by his cancer diagnosis, left the team after Week 3. The Colts sat at 1-2 on the season. Arians took over on an interim basis and the wins piled up.

He handed team back over to Pagano in Week 17 having gone 9-3 in his stead. Arians was named the NFL’s Coach of the Year.

In his only meeting with the Colts since, Arians led the Cardinals to a lopsided 40-11 win over the Colts in Phoenix in 2013.

He is 41-22-1 in his four seasons with the Cardinals, having won another Coach of the Year honor in 2014. Arizona is coming off a 7-8-1 season in which it missed the playoffs for the first time in three years.

5) Primetime

The Colts aren’t quite the primetime draw they used to be. After playing in a league-maximum five primetime games in both 2014 and 2015, Indy saw just three last season. The Colts will play in three primetime games in 2017: Week 3 at Seattle, Week 5 at Tennessee (Monday) and Week 14 vs. Denver (Thursday).

They'll also face the Ravens in a Saturday game on Dec. 23 in Baltimore.